› added 12 years ago

62

TIL New Zealand is free from Rabies.

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DQa8e TIL the 'Puckle Gun', considered to be one of the first machine guns (1718), had a specialized square shaped bullet to be used against Turks as a means to "convince the Turks of the benefits of Christian civilization".
4kg0N TIL May 2 1922 Gen. Montgomery led a convoy to Macroom Castle, Cork where he ordered the IRA to surrender 4 captives or they would raze the town. In response, the Commander told him to leave “within 10 minutes”. Monty then looked up to see he had been quietly surrounded by Irish Volunteers. He fled.
RGm4 TIL that when Napoleon returned to France from Elba, he approached some of the first troops sent to arrest him and opened his coat, “If any of you will shoot his Emperor, here I am.” They joined him instead.
Yoy7 TIL Salvador Dali would avoid paying his tabs by drawing on the checks he wrote, making the checks a valuable piece of art.
6pWl TIL In c. 552 two Christian monks, after learning Chinese silkworm cultivation, smuggled silkworm eggs on behalf of Byzantine emperor Justinian, resulting in the Empire’s monopoly over the European silk market and forming the foundations of its economy for the next 650 years (until its demise).